1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric heater for an automobile vehicle. The electric heater can include an electronic controller and a heat transmitting net, whereby the heat transmitting net contains a multitude of PTC-heating elements, a multitude of contact sheets, a multitude of heat dissipating fins and a multitude of distance elements, whereby at least one PTC-heating element and at least one distance element is arranged between two adjacent contact sheets, whereby the PTC-heating elements and the distance elements between the adjacent contact sheets and the adjacent contact sheets themselves form a heating element, whereby the heating elements are connected to the electronic controller through connectors, which are arranged at the electronic controller and are connected to a power supply
2. Description of the Background Art
Description of the Background Art An electric heater can be used to further enlarge the heating capacity of a heating system in automobiles. Electric heaters can feature a multitude of positive temperature coefficient (PTC) elements, that can be used to transform electric energy into heat energy, which can be used to heat up an airflow within a HVAC-system (heating, ventilation and air conditioning).
Electric heaters usually feature an electronic controller, which allows the activation and deactivation of the electric heater. The electronic controller can therefore be connected to other data-processing elements within the control-network of a vehicle. Thereby it is possible to control the electric heater with respect to the working state of the rest of the control-network.
PTC-heaters known in the conventional art usually feature an additional part or element, which is used to dissipate the heat that is generated by the electronic controller. This element can be heat dissipating fins, a ventilation fan or channels, which are cooled by a circulating fluid.
It is disadvantageous, that the additional part or element increases the weight of the electric heater and furthermore adds up to the overall complexity of the electric heater. Therefore the electric heater will be more expensive. Furthermore the assembly of the electric heater will be negatively influenced by the additional parts or elements.